Sale gives up grand slam in 4-3 loss

Donaldson blasts 1st of career in 6th and that was enough for A's

June 07, 2013|By Fred Mitchell, Chicago Tribune reporter

The White Sox were counting on Chris Sale to make them feel right at home Friday night.

Instead, the Sox took another uncomfortable loss — a 4-3 setback in which Josh Donaldson's sixth-inning grand slam was the critical blow for the Athletics at U.S. Cellular Field. The Sox now have lost 10 of their last 11 games.

Josh Reddick snared Conor Gillaspie's best shot for a possible tying home run in the ninth at the top of the fence in right field.

Sale entered the game 11-1 with a 1.82 ERA in his previous 15 starts at home.

"I don't know what it is. Obviously, pitching with some cheers behind you is always nicer," Sale said. "It's a place you feel a little more comfortable with than any other place. Not tonight, though."

The Sox took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Tyler Flowers (3-for-3) hit his fifth homer of the season. They added a second run in the fourth and a third in the fifth, both on sacrifice flies. But Donaldson, the A's clean-up hitter, blasted his first career slam to vault his team ahead.

Adam Rosales led off the inning with a base hit against Sale. With one out, Jed Lowrie hit a line drive that skipped past De Aza in left. Rosales then advanced to third on the error as Lowrie stayed at first with a base hit. Sale pitched around Yoenis Cespedes before walking him to load the bases before Donaldson muscled his ninth homer of the year over the right-field fence.

"It just shows you how important one pitch can be in a ballgame," Sale said. "Off the bat, I figured it was going to be a sac-fly or something. It just kept going. He got a hold of it more than I thought he did."

Sale (5-4) departed after 71/3 innings in favor of right-hander Matt Lindstrom, charged with four runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out six while throwing 118 pitches.

"I know we're not playing like we want to play or like we should play," Sale said. "But we're just running into some tough breaks. Running into some bad luck. I mean, robbed of a home run … that's when you know it's not going your way at all.

"We have just got to figure out a way to keep grinding. I don't see anybody giving up in here. We're still grinding, we're still fighting."

The Sox chased Jarrod Parker in the eighth after he yielded a third hit to Flowers. Right-hander Ryan Cook took over and walked De Aza before retiring Alexei Ramirez on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt that third baseman Donaldson caught.

"Not getting the bunt down, that doesn't help, giving the other team an out," Cooper said.

Rios popped out to first before Dunn flied out to center to end the threat.

"We have to fight against getting discouraged when (bad things) happen," Cooper said. "We felt like we have our best (pitcher) out there, things are looking good. All of a sudden, they ain't looking so good."